A Chinese Airbnb competitor is rolling out facial recognition locks

Image: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images

Sharing someone else’s home is about to get even creepier.

The Chinese Airbnb competitor Xiaozhu is rolling out locks that open with facial recognition, according to the South China Morning Post. The locks are reportedly meant to address security concerns. But they will also assist the Chinese government in monitoring the comings and goings of travelers in China.

Xiaozhu is a Chinese home sharing company similar to Airbnb. Alibaba co-founder and executive chairman Jack Ma recently led a $300 million round of investment in the company. The facial recognition software will reportedly be provided by Alibaba.

The facial recognition locks will be part of a pilot program. Approximately 80 percent of Xiaozhu’s home shares in the Chinese city of Chengdu will get the new feature. That will come with security updates like smoke and gas detectors, too.

In addition to security, the report also states that the facial recognition locks are part of the Chinese government’s larger initiative to gain “tighter control” over short-term rentals, “mainly for state security reasons.” In the new year, the Zhejiang province, which is to the East of Chengdu, will be the first in China required to submit host and guest names on home-sharing platforms to the government.

There are plenty of anecdotal horror stories out there about home share break-ins. But it’s not clear whether vacation rental locks currently pose an actual security problem — whether to renters or to short-term landlords. 

Meanwhile, keeping tabs on who is traveling where is already proving to be a priority for the Chinese government. The Chinese government was recently implicated for the 4-years-long Marriott security breach, which compromised the personal and travel data of 500 million guests. 

Paired with the Chinese government’s growing investment and implementation of facial recognition technology, home-sharing could be another tool in the arsenal of its expanding surveillance state.

Mashable has reached out to Xiaozhu to learn more about its facial recognition plans; we’ve also reached out to the FBI and DOJ, to learn about home share crime statistics; and to Airbnb, to learn whether it is considering facial recognition as well, and how that might play into home share security. We will update this story if and when we hear back.